SAN DIEGO — The discovery of a potentially suspicious device attached to a truck entering Naval Air Station North Island Tuesday prompted a roughly hour-long closure of the main gate to the installation along with nearby public traffic lanes until authorities determined the object was not a threat.
An inspector at the naval aviation facility on the north end of the Coronado peninsula noticed the unidentified object -- a box with a wire protruding from it -- on the undercarriage of the commercial vehicle during a routine check about 8:30 a.m., said Kevin Dixon, public affairs officer for the station.
Base officials closed the Stockdale Gate, the primary entrance to the installation, to allow inspectors to assess the situation, Dixon said. Coronado police, meanwhile, shut down several blocks of adjacent Alameda Boulevard as a further precaution.
After determining that the device attached to the truck was simply part of its operating system, naval personnel gave an all-clear to reopen the entrance to the base, Dixon said.
Traffic around the station remained somewhat heavier than usual due to the closure through 11 a.m. or so, the spokesman said.
Though armed forces facilities around the nation have been on heightened alert following the death last week of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike, the security measures undertaken Tuesday morning at the Coronado air base were standard operating procedure, Dixon said.
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"What went on today would have gone on any day," he said.
Tony Ramirez, a commercial truck driver, told News 8 that inspections at the Naval base are far more thorough now. He said he used to be able to show identification and continue on, but these days security is much tighter.
"They get you out of your car, make you open everything and they look through everything, which is good," Ramirez said.